Prospects for Geneva discussions on South Caucasus causing concern

June 26, 2013, 21:31 UTC+3"There are fair reasons for worrying because it’s far from the first time such things happen," he said

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GENEVA, June 26 (Itar-Tass) - Further prospects for Geneva discussion on the ways of ensuring security and stability in South Caucasus cause concern and the possibility where the meetings in the current format will simply cease to take place is acquiring practical contours, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karassin told Itar-Tass upon the results of the 24th round of consultations that was held here Wednesday.

The Geneva discussions are held under the auspices of the United Nations, the EU, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe /OSCE/ with the participation of delegations of Russia, Abkhazia, Georgia, the U.S., and South Ossetia.

The position taken by the Georgian delegation, which blocked the dialogue Wednesday, “causes doubts about the further prospects for Geneva discussions,” Karassin said.

“This is called stonewalling,” he said adding that the Georgian diplomats blocked the talks on all the procedural issues.

“Georgia’s representatives refused to discuss the essence of issues on the agenda in the afternoon saying the delegations of Abkhazia and South Ossetia had gathered in the hall in full force,” Karassin said.

“There are fair reasons for worrying because it’s far from the first time such things happen,” he said.

Karassin said he does not rule out that this format of discussions of the situation in South Caucasus may turn into a thing of the past soon enough.

He believes there is only one way out of the situation and it will work if the “co-chairpersons of the conference manage to convince the Georgian participants to work fruitfully and to achieve specific results.”

“The results of this stonewalling may be really sad, since disappointment usually transforms into concrete bad showings,” Karassin said. “I really wouldn’t like to see them happen and in particular in the zones of conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia, as well as Georgia and South Ossetia.”

He recalled that the session had ended an hour ahead of schedule and had left a feeling of bitter disappointment.

Karassin believes that the root-cause of the situation lies in the desire of Georgia’s new delegation to show off its significance.

“This was done purposefully in order to show that the incumbent participants in the talks are no smaller patriots and are as tough in defending their positions as their predecessors were,” he said.